Qal'at Ja'bar

Qal'at Ja'bar (Arabic: قلعة جعبر, Turkish: Caber Kalesi) is a castle on the left bank of Euphrates Lake in Raqqa Governorate, Syria. Its site, formerly a prominent hill-top overlooking the Euphrates Valley, is now an island in Lake Assad that can only be reached by an artificial causeway. Although the hilltop on which the castle sits was possibly already fortified in the 7th century, the current structures are primarily the work of Nur ad-Din, who rebuilt the castle from 1168 onwards. Since 1965, several excavations have been carried out in and around the castle, as well as restoration works of the walls and towers. The castle was a Turkish exclave between 1921 and 1973.

Text adapted from “Qal'at Ja'bar” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Qal'at Ja'bar ranks #930 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #6 of the 37 mapped in Syria. Founded 1168, it is older than 81% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 544 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 4,420 times in the last 60 days, more than 82% of the atlas. It is one of the 109 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Levant. See how Syria compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗